Event Date June 2 - 5, 2011

Attendees Registered 300

Dogs Registered 339

2011 was our 7th Annual Mountain Hounds event and we had a blast. More greyhounds attended this year than in previous years and based on the ROOOOOO on Saturday evening they all had a greyt time. We held the Charity Walk through town on Thursday and Friday night and we had Greyhound BINGO both nights as well. Based on the survey everyone enjoyed both events.

Jean Ussery held a seminar this year talking about Communicating with your Dog. She always has great stories that the animals have told her. This year she spoke about what our dogs teach us and how to work in partnership with our companions. Jeanine Certo of Deacon’s Doggie Delights and Totty Roberts of Snugglebugs presented a seminar on Cooking for our Pets. They gave us the scoop on substituting ingredients for allergy prone dogs and shared many tips on making treats. On Saturday Heather Coulombe presented Raw Feeding and talked about the benefits of feeding raw and how to provide the nutrients our dogs need. She presented tips for transitioning to Raw Feeding, equipment you need, traveling with raw food and many other tidbits. She even included a demonstration of raw feeding using her greyhounds. Dr Morefield from Charlotte attended our event and presented information about Nutrition, Rehabilitation, and Acupuncture as well as answering all our questions. Her dog showed us how to use the balance ball in our rehabilitation exercises and some basic moves to help them stretch and recover. Our final seminar was presented by Jeani Gray of Helping Paws. This seminar taught us how to approach dogs and how to watch our dog for stress signals and to help them be accepting of other dogs, people and kids. Thank you to all of our seminar presenters! We love to learn new things! If anyone has suggestions for next year let us know.

Vending was held at the Four Seasons hotel this year and we hope to utilize them again in 2012. They are under new management and are making changes in the conference area. The Four Season makes a great overflow hotel when we fill up the Sidney James. The Four Seasons offers a large room that can be divided for different activities and gives us a great affordable price with a large grassy area for potty breaks. In looking at other options we have found many places would not allow the dogs or did not have grassy areas for the dogs.

Congratulations to the King & Queen of 2011. Ritter Hudgens(13) and Raven White(13.5) were awarded this title as the oldest male and female greyhound in attendance. These two were honored in style. A brand new bed to rest when tired, a crown befitting royalty and beautiful bling to surround their wonderful necks. Thank you to BowWow Bonnets, Bookends Boutique and Desta Hudgens for their donations.

Thank You for attending Mountain Hounds! We are looking forward to seeing everyone next year! Remember Mountain Hounds is always the weekend AFTER Memorial Day. So mark your calendars for May 31 - June 3, 2012!